Lately, I’ve been walking around in what feels like a state of suspended animation mixed with pure disbelief.

I mean, the shocking occurrences just keep coming. When I hear about yet something else, I look around and no one seems stunned. In fact, I often wonder whether people even know.

“Maybe they just haven’t heard yet,” I’ve been saying to myself.

And then, of course, I notice that a good number of the people I see are wearing ear buds. Nothing against ear buds. You never know what people are listening to, but I highly doubt they’re seeing and hearing what I’m experiencing.

And of course, just about everyone is staring down into their hand held devices which I thought existed for the purpose of helping to keep us informed about what’s happening in the world, but hey, maybe I’m wrong.

In fact, I suspect that many people are completely shutting themselves off from what’s going on in the world. Believe me, I get it. I often want to do the very same thing. However, that would make me feel like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. I can’t do that.

Call me crazy, but I’d rather deal with harsh reality than live in fantasy land. Apparently many people disagree. I mean, I hear something or see something and then, I look around and …

NOTHING. No one seems stunned. It’s business as usual.

There are times when I just want to shout out …

“PEOPLE, ARE YOU AWAKE? SERIOUSLY, AM I THE ONLY ONE SEEING THESE THINGS?”

Maybe everyone is just super-busy trying to keep their heads above water. And if they’re blessed to be doing very well in life, they’re probably desperately trying to hold onto what they’ve got.

Despite that, it’s always about “getting more,” isn’t it?

How can we make MORE money? How can we get a bigger house? How can we maximize profits? How can we minimize overhead? How can we get a better car? How can we get into a more exclusive club?

You name it.

It seems that somehow, in our quest to get whatever it is we want out of this life, we’ve thrown away the very basic things that make life worthwhile … like integrity. Remember integrity? How about loyalty? Remember loyalty? What about family? Have you seen your family lately?

I often look around and wonder what’s happening to us. It’s as if we’re losing our souls in pursuit of that thing that’s going to put us over the top. We think that once we get “that thing,” everything in life will finally fall into place. All of our struggles will have been worth it.

And yet, in the midst of that struggle, it feels to me like things are being yanked away right from beneath our noses and we don’t even notice. When we do wake up and notice, it’ll be too late.

This goes way beyond class, race, politics, religion, you name it.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m living in a different dimension or something. Maybe I’m the one with the warped view of things.

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